Internet obsessed with cat that resembles 'Star Wars' actor

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Photos:Cats own the Internet

This cat, originally named Corey, took social media by storm due to his resemblance to "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" star Adam Driver. Within a few days, he was adopted and renamed Kylo Ren, the name of Driver's character in the movie.

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Grumpy Cat, also known as Tardar Sauce, is perhaps the most well-known cat on the Internet. Celebrities as diverse as Anderson Cooper and Jennifer Lopez have taken pictures with her.

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Owner Mike Bridavsky and celebrity cat Lil Bub at the screening of "Lil Bub & Friendz" during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Monty is a rescue cat who was born without a nasal bridge bone. He sneezes a lot because of the birth defect, but otherwise he's quite healthy.

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Henri, le Chat Noir, in a scene from the video, "Henri 2, Paw de Deux," by William Braden. The cat video won the Golden Kitty Award at the Walker Art Center's Internet Cat Video Festival in 2012 in Minneapolis.

Colonel Meow at the Internet Cat Super Group holiday event at Capitol Records Tower in 2013 in Los Angeles. A Himalayan-Persian crossbreed, he held the Guinness World Record for cat with the longest fur.

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Honey Bee is a blind cat from Animals Fiji, an animal veterinary service. Here, Honey Bee rested on the backpack of Jonathan Ursin, husband of Sabrina Ursin, who took the photograph.

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Lazarus, a sick and malnourished kitten, was rescued in 2012 from the streets of Johnson City, Tennessee, by a student at East Tennessee State University. He was given to Cindy Chambers, a special education professor and animal lover. With medical attention and care, Lazarus became healthy. His Facebook page was created to raise awareness that animals (and people) with disabilities can be great contributors to people's lives if given the opportunity.

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Cats at the harbor of Aoshima Island in the Miyazaki Prefecture in southern Japan on February 25. On this remote island, felines outnumber humans six to one.

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Nala Cat, a female Siamese-tabby mix, is a star on Instagram with more than a million followers.

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Hamilton, dubbed the "Hipster Cat," has a white marking under his nose that looks like Salvador Dali's mustache. He was rescued from a shelter by comedian Jay Stowe after being abandoned in San Francisco. The moggie has many followers on Instagram, and landed a T-shirt deal with clothing retailer The Mountain.

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Maru, the cat sensation in Japan with millions of views for nearly 300 videos since 2007, has three books and a calendar, among other swag for sale.

By the end of that weekend, Corey the cat's adoption post received thousands of likes and shares, most of which can be traced back to an observation by Marci Robin: the cat with its striking ears and nose, looked a lot like Adam Driver, who memorably portrays the villain Kylo Ren in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

"There were comments saying he looked like Yoda, Dobby the Elf and of course Kylo Ren," noted Lindsay Sanator with the SPCA, who added that the resemblance was not immediately noticed by her fellow employees until the post went up.

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"Within the Facebook comments there was a Photoshopped image of Corey's head on Kylo Ren's body among stormtroopers. Within 24 hours Corey's photo had almost 1,000 shares and almost 1,000 retweets, over 500 reddit comments and featured on several viral media websites."

One of Robin's friends also noticed Corey and instantly fell in love. Emily McCombs of Brooklyn, who didn't have a driver's license, living over 50 miles away from the shelter, adored the cat right away, regardless of his newfound celebrity status.

"I happened to see her tweet as it was starting to pick up steam, so I always knew that he was connected to the actor. But when I saw his face, I immediately fell in love," she said.

However, the difficulty in getting there, as well as the fact that he had already been claimed, made it seem like "an impossible dream."

When the other potential owners had to back out, however, McCombs did whatever she could to adopt the cat.

"I put out an alert on Facebook for anyone with a car willing to drive me to meet Corey, and an amazing friend drove me out to the shelter the next morning," she said.

"I wasn't even totally sure if Corey would still be available when I got there, but I knew I had to try."

She signed the adoption papers and soon after noticed that her cat was everywhere on the Internet. After several suggestions, she settled on naming him Kylo Ren.

"People are happy that Kylo's story promotes animal adoptions and brings attention to great shelters like the Monmouth shelter, which is in a dire place financially and desperately needed the attention to stay alive," she said.

And like any cat with Internet fame, he now has an Instagram that already reached 8,000 followers within 48 hours.

McCombs is more than happy to share the photos as well.

"Kylo's looks are so unique and adorable, but he really has a very special personality as well. He's the sweetest, snuggliest cat I've ever met -- more like a dog, really. "